Port Charlotte

Scotland: Islay

Port Charlotte Distillery is currently a phoenix struggling to rise from its ashes. Formerly known as the Lochindaal Distillery, it was constructed in 1829 but closed a century later, suffering the same fate as many distilleries at the time who couldn’t keep operating in the face of the market downturn caused by Prohibition.

In 2007, the good folks at Bruichladdich Distillery announced that they were planning to reopen Port Charlotte, with the aim of creating a completely green distillery with a zero-carbon footprint. But it seems the markets have been wreaking havoc with their plans too, with the effects of the global recession delaying the opening of the distillery indefinitely.

Until Port Charlotte Distillery is once again operational, we can at least console ourselves with Bruichladdich’s Port Charlotte series, a heavily-peated whisky made from stocks of Port Charlotte malt and which has been matured in the Port Charlotte distillery warehouse.